News Brief
PM Jacinda Ardern Calls Off Her Own Wedding As New Zealand Moves To 'Red Traffic Light' Over Runaway Omicron Outbreak
- New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern scrapped her own wedding plans as she imposed new restrictions in the face of an outbreak of the Omicron variant
Jacinda Ardern with Clarke Gayford
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern scrapped her own wedding plans as she imposed new restrictions in the face of an outbreak of the Omicron variant, NZ Herald reported.
PM Ardern was forced to cancel her wedding to long-time partner Clarke Gayford, as the country will move to the red traffic light setting effective Monday morning following 9 confirmed cases of Omicron.
“My wedding will not be going ahead,” she confirmed after detailing new restrictions including a limit of 100 fully vaccinated people at events.
"When it comes to events, whether it's a birthday or a wedding or any kind of event of that nature, gathering limits of 100 do come in with the red light setting at 11.59pm tonight," Ardern said.
"As for mine, my wedding won't be going ahead but I just join many other New Zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic. And to anyone caught up in that scenario, I am so sorry, but we are all so resilient and I know we understand we are doing this for one another and it will help us carry on." she added.
On being asked how she felt about the cancellation, Ardern said "Such is life. I am no different to, dare I say, thousands of other New Zealanders."
Though Ardern and her Gayford have never announced their wedding date, the couple were reportedly planning to get married some time this summer in Gisborne. Ardern and Gayford have daughter Neve.
The couple were planning to get married in a billionaire John Griffin's rural luxury estate with Grammy Award-winner Lorde roped in to perform for the select guests
Ardern and Gayford got engaged Easter 2019 at Mahia during a break at Gayford's family bach.
Since the pandemic began in early 2020, New Zealand has reported 15,104 Covid-19 cases and 52 deaths.
Draconian border restrictions and several long periods of lockdowns have been in place for much of the last two years.
About 94 per cent of New Zealand’s population over the age of 12 is fully vaccinated and about 56 per cent of those eligible have had booster shots.
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